LAKE KATRINE — How heavily should you weigh one vote from 2011 in deciding to re-elect a congressman?

Time and again, Democratic challenger Julian Schreibman attacked Rep. Chris Gibson for supporting the Republican Party’s budget resolution as the men debated for the first time Wednesday night at a middle school in this Kingston suburb.

That budget, sponsored by vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, is best known for changing the Medicare program for future retirees from a fee-for-services model, where care is reimbursed at a given rate, to one of “premium support,” often derided as vouchers, where seniors use a fixed federal subsidy to purchase private health insurance plans, assuming ultimate liability for anything not explicitly covered. It would also have gradually raised the program’s eligibility level and cut spending for government programs including Pell Grants, which subsidizes higher education. In 2012, after the boundaries of his district morphed to include more Democratic voters, Gibson voted against Ryan’s plan and backed a relatively obscure budget resolution based on principles of a bipartisan deficit commission.

“When you take a vote in Washington, you’re showing your priorities,” Schreibman, a Kingston attorney, said. “He voted for a radical tea party budget that ends the guarantee of Medicare, slashes Pell Grants all to give big tax giveaways to millionaires and billionaires.”

Gibson said his record is more nuanced, and that the notion he would “end” Medicare was a falsehood. He promised to strengthen Medicare and committed to working across the political aisle to do so. The federal insurance program is currently slated to go bankrupt in 2024.

“When you’re in a political season like this, I understand there are campaigns that are waged. But I’m telling you right now we can absolutely save this program,” said Gibson, R-Kinderhook. “I voted for two concepts to get the conversation started.”

Countered Schreibman: “When you vote to end Medicare, you’re not starting a conversation. You’re ending a conversation.”

The two men are vying to represent the 11-county 19th Congressional District, which covers the mid-Hudson Valley and Catskills as well as parts of Rensselaer and Montgomery counties. Gibson served 24 years in the Army, retiring as a colonel in 2010. His career involved combat tours in the Middle East as well as a teaching appointment at West Point. Schreibman is a Yale-trained lawyer who has worked in private practice as well as for the Central Intelligence Agency. He also served as an assistant district attorney in Ulster County and chaired the Democratic Party here.

Schreibman’s side has spent less money than Gibson, and he used the Wednesday night forum to attack Gibson for vote he’s made since taking office in 2011.

Gibson, in turn, worked to portray himself as a moderate. He emphasized his working-class upbringing as the “son of a union man” — not a typical strategy for Republicans — and noted that he agreed with President Barack Obama’s approach to wind down military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said he has voted with Democrats roughly 400 times, and strayed from his party leaders on a quarter of votes before the House.

“We helped bring people together in Iraq. Those skills are helping me now in the United States Congress,” said Gibson. “I’m focused on serving everybody, from Occupy Wall Street to Tea Party to everyone in between.”

Schreibman remained even-keeled through his persistent needling, which visibly wound up Gibson. The congressman began speaking more quickly and gesticulating vigorously with his finger after some questions.

The debate did not touch on other points of disagreement including tax policy or the 2010 Affordable Care Act, called Obamacare, that Gibson has voted to repeal. The men did agree on policies that offer strong support for Israel and require companies engaged in natural gas hydrofracking to disclose the chemicals they use while drilling.

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